Beef Buzz News

R-Calf's Bill Bullard Says Its All About Hanging Onto the Cash Market

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:06:54 CDT

Bill Bullard contends the GIPSA Rule is all about preserving the cash market for the cattle industry. We talked with him at the recent USDA-DOJ Workshop on Competition in the Livestock sector- and Bullard was very visible there- calling on USDA to implement the GIPSA Rule as a first step to stopping the takeover of the cattle business by packers in the US.

Bullard and the President of his organization- R-Calf USA, Dr. Max Thornsberry of Missouri wrote a letter to the cattle industry after that workshop- and here is a portion of their thoughts about the need for the GIPSA Rule:

"Do we want the cattle industry to stay its present course or do we want to break away from the packersí dominance and strike off in a new direction? The hog industry chose to stay the course and watched silently as 90 percent of all U.S. hog producers (over 600,000) exited the industry just since 1980.

"The first real opportunity to strike off in a new direction is the proposed rule issued by the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA). Those who support the status quo understand this and are doing everything possible to kill the proposed GIPSA rule. Their rallying cry is that the proposed GIPSA rule will destroy opportunities for producers to earn premiums for their high quality cattle and all cattle will sell for an average price.

"This is absurd. The proposed GIPSA rule will not do this. R-CALF USA has many members participating in value-based, branded beef programs including Certified Angus Beef and U.S. Premium Beef, and many of our producers are either feeders themselves or are involved in retained ownership programs and export-based programs. Our members recognize that while these programs presently are returning premiums over the cash price, all of these programs continue to use the fast-shrinking cash market to discover the base-price for their cattle, which accounts for about 90 percent of their animalsí total value. In other words, they understand that unless we take immediate steps to preserve competition in the cash market, everyone in the industry is harmed when the cash market becomes so thin that it discovers a less-than-competitive price. The proposed GIPSA rule will preserve what remains of our cash market and none too soon, for our cash cattle market is shrinking fast, following the very same path previously followed by the hog industry."

Today's Beef Buzz is with Bill Bullard and he tells us why he sees the need for the GIPSA Rules.

The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today. Just click on the Beef Buzz button found on the left hand side of any page on this website.